A bittersweet night of puro conjunto

Updated 2:53 pm, Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Genaro (left) and Emilio Aguilar of Los Aguilares will be honored with an all-star concert. COURTESY PHOTO

Genaro (left) and Emilio Aguilar of Los Aguilares will be honored with an all-star concert. COURTESY PHOTO

A bittersweet night of puro conjunto

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For beloved conjunto pioneers Los Aguilares, the beat goes on. It always did — even when times were tough.

The legendary family group led by Genaro Aguilar celebrates its 52nd anniversary at Blanco Ballroom on Friday with Jamie y Los Chamacos, Los Hermanos Farias, Grupo Maldad and Los DesperadoZ.

Doors open at 7 p.m.; music from 8 p.m.-2 a.m. Tickets cost $15. Advance tickets are available at Janie's Record Shop.

Friday's dance party will be fun, but it's bittersweet, too.

It has been two years since the death of accordionist and co-founder Emilio Aguilar from complications of Alzheimer's disease. He was 70.

“It's important to continue my dad's legacy,” said Miguel Aguilar, who plays keyboards. “And of course, my uncle (Genaro) still has his voice. He's still active, and he wants to continue so we're going to respect that ... continuing is what my dad would really, really have wanted us to do.”

Emilio Aguilar was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when he was 55. But even at the end of his life, when he couldn't recognize his button accordion “and didn't know what to do with it,” he could still keep time.

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“He never lost his beat. My mom would tune in the Radio Jalapeño station (KEDA-AM), and he would always stomp his foot. He would just smile,” Miguel recalled. “That's a good memory.”

Los Aguilares' life story is right out of a movie.

The roots of the band date to the early 1950s to the fabled Conjunto Guadalupano — brothers Frank, Emilio and Genaro Aguilar — who were students at Our Lady of Guadalupe on El Paso Street. They began as self-taught teenage musicians and harmony singers. A family priest discovered and named the group.

As kids, they played home weddings, baptisms, birthday parties and little parties known as jamaicas. Conjunto Guadalupano soon graduated to live radio shows and nightclubs.

Emilio and Genaro struck out on their own as Los Aguilares in 1960. Their hits included “El Parrandero,” “Naci de Este Lado” and “Anhelo.” Songwriters Salome Gutierrez and Jose Morante wrote many of the group's most famous tunes.

Miguel Aguilar says putting Friday's lineup together was a no-brainer. “We all grew up together,” he said. “We go way back. We can relate to that (family vibe). We just go with the flow.”

The likelihood of a conjunto accordion jam session at the end of the night is a given, says Miguel Aguilar, “like one big party, just having fun.”